Montauk

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Long Island is very long
on stories about MONTAUK
and if you live on the island
long enough, some
of those  stories
are your own.

It is the easternmost-tip
of the Island.


62 or 63 Years Ago
I was swaddled in a blanket at age three or four
in a car full of aunts and uncles, grandparents
and–most importantly–
parents who were
half the age
I am now.

Damn my seven year-old sister for pinching my behind
all along Montauk Highway. (Or was she six?)

But in Riverhead we saw the Duck.

Then there was the Windmill.

And, of course, the Lighthouse...

surrounded by wicked, wild, water
and an Uncle said Hey Nephew
to a 3 year-old or a 4 year-old
This lighthouse was built
by George Washington.




Then we drove home to Rocky Point
where the water was neither
wild nor wicked...

but always calm because
it was not the ocean.

It is the Long Island Sound.

Rocky Point is in the upper-left corner–
water, notwithstanding–of the 1905 map above.



I was a great distance from being three or four years old
when the Rocky Point photograph was taken.

I am a great distance from sixty-two  or sixty-three other Montauk memories
but never am I very far from this one:

June, 1970
Prom season found me checking coats at the  Middle Island Country Club,
managed by my father and–quite surprisingly–
visited by five dear  friends who were
Tripping our way out to Montauk
Wanna join us?

My father said Okay, if you stay here til closing
and your mother says Okay.

She said Okay to my friends and gave them
an overnight bag for this working boy.

She gave the overnight bag to  Jack McCarthy
who had reached great chemically-induced heights
before arriving at the house in Rocky Point.

Your mother had been running all around with a fly swatter.

Three hours later, I made lysergic love
to that wicked, wild water in Montauk.

Thirty years later, Jack denied all memories of the fly swatting mother.

Forty years later, Jack had vivid memories of that fly swatting mother.

Almost forty-five years later, otherwise known as TODAY
I have a nasty cold. I curled up on the sofa, and binge-watched
a Showtime series called  THE AFFAIR.

It is set in Montauk and made this whole page possible.


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Footnote
This page is dedicated to Mrs. CarPeo, who helped nurse my runny nose
by laughing with me and getting me to gargle with vinegar
and suck on a lemon.

I can't wait to pinch Mrs. CarPeo's behind and tell her
My sister Linda made me do it!

I feel much better now
but still have three
more episodes of
THE AFFAIR
to watch. 
 
Also, I am having vivid memories
of my mother, with-or-without
a fly swatter.

The next Linda page is  here.
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